Fang Feng (1240–1321) was a poet of the late Song and early Yuan. His courtesy name was Shaoqing, also written Shaofu; Jingshan is variously described as an alternate name and as an alternate courtesy name, and he styled himself Yannan. He was from Pujiang in Wuzhou, present-day Zhejiang, and was originally surnamed Chen.
Life
At the end of the Song, he entered the Imperial Academy and failed the Ministry of Rites examination. He was then granted the post of wenxue at Rongzhou, also described as Professor of Rongzhou; because the Song fell, he did not take up the appointment and did not serve under the Yuan. The title liuwai quan is also associated with Rongzhou in his official career. After returning home, he named his studio Cunya Hall, and scholars called him Master Cunya. With Xie Ao, Wu Siqi, and others residing in Puyang, he formed the Xishe, maintained ties with old Song loyalists, and hoped for restoration. He died in the first year of the Zhizhi era of the Yuan (1321), aged eighty-two.
Associations and family
His friends included Wu Siqi, Xie Ao, Wu Qian, Zhao Ruohui, and Yan Lü; he also exchanged verse with Mou Yan, Fang Hui, Wang Cheng, and Chen Kangzu. His pupils included Liu Guan, Wu Lai, and Huang Jingchang; Liu Guan modeled his literary style on Fang Feng, and Wu Lai was also Fang Feng's grandson-in-law.
His seventh-generation ancestor was Fang Yangyuan and his sixth-generation ancestor Fang Zi. His adoptive father was Fang Zhiren, and his wife was Ji; he had two sons, Fang Chu and Fang Zi, three daughters, and sons-in-law Zhang Zuo, Huang Liu, and Zhao Bijun. His elder son Fang Chu died in 1352.
Poetry and writings
Fang Feng was skilled in both classical and contemporary poetry. His verse avoided elaborate ornament, was pure and tightly wrought, and developed a style of its own. Titles associated with his writings include 《野服考》, 《物異考》, 《金華遊錄》, and 《夷俗考》. The titles 《存雅堂稿》, 《存雅堂遺稿》, and 《方鳳集》 are also associated with his corpus.
His disciple Liu Guan selected his surviving poems for a nine-volume edition, but it has been lost. In the early Qing, Zhang Sui, a fellow townsman, gathered surviving poems and prose from various books, compiled the thirteen-volume 《存雅堂遺稿》, and had it printed in the eleventh year of the Shunzhi reign. Fang Feng's poetry is based on a supplemented second-year Yongzheng edition; poems added in that reprint and newly collected poems outside the collection were placed in a separate volume.
References
- CBDB Fang Feng (20059)
- 搜韵 方鳳 (26412)
- Wikidata Fang Feng (Q45394165)